Atheism and secular living from a woman's point of view.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Defacing the Gideon Bible
I was on vacation last week, and during some spare time I decided to deface the motel room's Gideon Bible. I have done this a few times, but this time I consulted The Evil Bible for passages about genocide and slavery. If I were a better artist, I'd have added some cartoons.
July 6 Links
Ball State hires Guillermo Gonzalez, notorious Intelligent Design "scientist." Great going, Ball state!
TedMed talk: could sugar cause insulin-resistance, not obesity? A scientists is betting his career on a question that challenges conventional medical wisdom. I love scientists!
Another TedMed talk: Are zombie doctors taking over America? Rather utopian goals to fix primary care, but worth a watch.
Cult leader gets life for killing boy he thought was gay & woman who couldn't conceive.
Got rain? This may be why. Jesus & Jesus do the Rain Dance:
TedMed talk: could sugar cause insulin-resistance, not obesity? A scientists is betting his career on a question that challenges conventional medical wisdom. I love scientists!
Another TedMed talk: Are zombie doctors taking over America? Rather utopian goals to fix primary care, but worth a watch.
Cult leader gets life for killing boy he thought was gay & woman who couldn't conceive.
Got rain? This may be why. Jesus & Jesus do the Rain Dance:
Saturday, June 29, 2013
June 29 Links
Former President Jimmy Carter blasts religious leaders for treatment of women and girls.
Anti-Islam American blogger not allowed into Britain. I have to admit, what she says is more like "hate speech" than anything I've seen on atheist blogs. Still, you have to wonder about the U.K.'s laws.
Baptists are boycotting the Boy Scouts, thus proving how silly and bigoted they are. Perhaps this is why they have been conducting fewer baptisms.
PBS interviews an author and survivor of the Exodus pray-the-gay-away "ministry."
National Geographic asks, How much do you know about science?
Victor Stenger radio interview, mainly about the history of science, which is apparently the topic of his latest book: God and the Atom.
Video of the Week "God's Loophole" by Garfunkel & Oates (lyrics NSFW):
Anti-Islam American blogger not allowed into Britain. I have to admit, what she says is more like "hate speech" than anything I've seen on atheist blogs. Still, you have to wonder about the U.K.'s laws.
Baptists are boycotting the Boy Scouts, thus proving how silly and bigoted they are. Perhaps this is why they have been conducting fewer baptisms.
PBS interviews an author and survivor of the Exodus pray-the-gay-away "ministry."
National Geographic asks, How much do you know about science?
Victor Stenger radio interview, mainly about the history of science, which is apparently the topic of his latest book: God and the Atom.
Video of the Week "God's Loophole" by Garfunkel & Oates (lyrics NSFW):
Monday, June 24, 2013
John Lennox... who?
It didn't take long to discover (heh) that he is heavily on the side of Godly doings in the design, or creation, or running the universe. The conservative D.C. rag, the Washington Times, ran an interview with him in 2011:
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/not-your-average-read/2011/aug/3/john-lennox-peter-singer-stephen-hawking-genesis/
Summary: This guy shared the stage with Behe and Ross in Alabama, at a conference called In the Beginning. Blech! He appeared (briefly) in that Ben Stein movie about the poor downtrodden Christian teachers who promote creationism (Ex-pe-LL-e.d), and he believes in God because he doesn't like the alternative:
“[p]erhaps there is a subtle danger today that, in their desire to eliminate the concept of a Creator completely, some scientists and philosophers have been led, albeit unwittingly, to re-deify the universe by endowing matter and energy with creative powers that they cannot be convincingly shown to possess. Banishing the One Creator God they would then end up with what has been described as the ultimate in polytheism – a universe in which every particle has god-like capacities” (pg. 51).Excuse me? The One Creator God? Who would this be? Yahweh? Allah? Zeus? A really really big turtle?
Oh... there must be something to create something, despite what Hawking and Krauss say:
“Which simply shows – as I said in my book [God and Stephen Hawking: Whose Design is it Anyway?] – that nonsense remains nonsense even if a scientist says it.”
Hawking, who in 2009 retired from holding Isaac Newton’s old chair at Cambridge, also said that heaven is “a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”
Lennox quipped in response, “Well if you want a one liner to answer it, atheism is a fairy story for people afraid of the light.”
Is this really someone who will give the atheistic viewpoint a fair shake? Let's take a look at his website: http://johnlennox.org/
About: He has written a series of books exploring the relationship between science and Christianity and he has also participated in a number of televised debates with some of the world’s leading atheist thinkers...
i.e., he debates only against atheists because he's a theist. His website has a section on apologetics.
The debate in the Hedin story involves many threads, but there has been no voice claiming that Hedin is not teaching creationism. Requiring that students purchase this book is a pretty good sign.
Speaking of debate, check out Lennox debating Dawkins (long):
Saturday, June 22, 2013
June 22 Links
Just a few links, none about the pray-the-gay-away Exodus group closing its doors, though. You should have heard about that already!
In Oklahoma, a Christian claims that the state's Native-American themed license plate violates the First Amendment. Really? A Native American Methodist begs to differ. Interesting case.
Huffpo reports on Christian wife-spanking. Sadly, Christians are not innovative enough to be kinky. This is treating a wife like a child. Barbaric
Christians vs Atheists in charity volleyball!
An Indiana Methodist church kicks out boy scouts because of the new stance on homosexuality. Really? So why was John the "disciple whom Jesus loved?"
Gene Roddenberry will get his wish to have his ashes go to space
Video of the week:
Russell Brand on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show, teaching the experts a few lessons:
In Oklahoma, a Christian claims that the state's Native-American themed license plate violates the First Amendment. Really? A Native American Methodist begs to differ. Interesting case.
Huffpo reports on Christian wife-spanking. Sadly, Christians are not innovative enough to be kinky. This is treating a wife like a child. Barbaric
Christians vs Atheists in charity volleyball!
An Indiana Methodist church kicks out boy scouts because of the new stance on homosexuality. Really? So why was John the "disciple whom Jesus loved?"
Gene Roddenberry will get his wish to have his ashes go to space
Video of the week:
Russell Brand on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show, teaching the experts a few lessons:
Monday, June 17, 2013
Why this blog has no advertising
At one point I decided to make a few pennies off this blog, especially considering the number of libertarians who land on my doorstep due to someone linking it on a libertarian Facebook page. I'd love to make money off of them!
But I made the mistake of reading the terms of service. You have to promise not to do anything that could be construed as hate speech. Now, I don't consider what I do to be hate speech, but someone else might. Here is google's definition for youtube:
And what kind of speech would "promote hate?" And what is hate anyway? It's a feeling, not an action. Promoting violence would definitely be something I could see google prohibiting, whether motivated by hate or otherwise. That's the real risk in unrestrained "hatespeech." I would never promote violence, though I might make a few rhetorical suggestions about the appropriate punishment for child abusers.
Can garden variety atheist ranting be construed as "hate speech?"
Apparently it can. Dusty Smith, of the "Cult of Dusty" has posted a chilling video about his experience being deemed hateful by google. He's stopped advertising other people's crap on his channel and now advertises his own T-Shirts to make some money. He's an atheist in Mississippi. He has my sympathy, and I could use a couple of new shirts:
But I made the mistake of reading the terms of service. You have to promise not to do anything that could be construed as hate speech. Now, I don't consider what I do to be hate speech, but someone else might. Here is google's definition for youtube:
Hateful Content is videos, comments or channel information which contain "Hate Speech". "Hate speech" refers to content that promotes hatred against members of a protected group. Protected groups include, but are not limited to, race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity.I don't hate Christians, really. Some of my best friends are Christians... really! I don't promote hatred toward them, or most believers, though I'm annoyed with the more reasonable ones for not speaking up against the dangerous ones more publicly. As for the dangerous ones, is it hate speech to say I hate the child abusers I've written about on this blog? They are a protected group by virtue of their religion, but shouldn't butt-fucking priests, faith-non-healing parents, and organizations that torture teenagers be exempt from that protection? I think so.
Sometimes there is a fine line between what is and what is not considered hate speech. For instance, it is generally okay to criticize a nation, but not okay to make insulting generalizations about people of a particular nationality.
And what kind of speech would "promote hate?" And what is hate anyway? It's a feeling, not an action. Promoting violence would definitely be something I could see google prohibiting, whether motivated by hate or otherwise. That's the real risk in unrestrained "hatespeech." I would never promote violence, though I might make a few rhetorical suggestions about the appropriate punishment for child abusers.Can garden variety atheist ranting be construed as "hate speech?"
Apparently it can. Dusty Smith, of the "Cult of Dusty" has posted a chilling video about his experience being deemed hateful by google. He's stopped advertising other people's crap on his channel and now advertises his own T-Shirts to make some money. He's an atheist in Mississippi. He has my sympathy, and I could use a couple of new shirts:
Saturday, June 15, 2013
June 15 Links
Jesus Christ appeared on a dog's butt. Hallelujah!
Rover finds evidence of neutral pH water... the kind that could support life.
NASA has mapped all of Mercury.
Jerry Coyne's blog updates the Ball State creationism course investigation. The local paper gives the names of the group investigating the complaint and quotes some letters sent from around the country. I'm impressed that there is a group investigating the complaint!
Rchard Dawkins' new video on faith-based schools in the U.K. (For comparison here are some stats on U.S. education: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_067.asp -- appproximately 10 percent of America's school children attend private schools, at least 80% of which are religious)
The second video is new to me, but I don't know when he gave this speech. It's "The Case Against Faith"
Rover finds evidence of neutral pH water... the kind that could support life.
NASA has mapped all of Mercury.
Jerry Coyne's blog updates the Ball State creationism course investigation. The local paper gives the names of the group investigating the complaint and quotes some letters sent from around the country. I'm impressed that there is a group investigating the complaint!
Rchard Dawkins' new video on faith-based schools in the U.K. (For comparison here are some stats on U.S. education: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_067.asp -- appproximately 10 percent of America's school children attend private schools, at least 80% of which are religious)
The second video is new to me, but I don't know when he gave this speech. It's "The Case Against Faith"
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